Wednesday, September 19, 2012

a missional snail

‘Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. Ezekiel 3:1-3

An interesting approach to mission. It begins with eating, the ingesting. It leads to mission, the speaking.

All this is important given what I discovered last night. Tidying up my home office, I picked up a pile of Bible commentaries, only to discover my Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV (Anchor Bible) by Joseph Fitzmeyer, was being eaten.

Ingested.

Literally, by a snail. Nibbling at the cover. A literal take on the mission of Ezekiel, the act of ingesting in order for speaking to begin.